This invention broadly relates to aerial vehicles having vertical takeoff/landing capability (VTOL), of which helicopters are a common type, and of which the described VTOL aircraft has a particularly useful capability as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), sometimes referred to as a "drone" aircraft.
More particularly, the broad novel aspect of the invention is a common universal power drive and lifting rotor system module from which various types of single and multiple rotor VTOL aircraft can be produced by attaching appropriate rotor torque counteracting structures. The simplicity and versatility of the power drive and lifting rotor system module of the invention is such that it has a particular adaptation to providing VTOL UAV aircraft of several types that are highly suitable to carrying out military and commercial surveillance missions.
There is a particular need for a portable, remotely controlled VTOL UAV platform carrying visual and sensing recording devices for performing a variety of military and commercial missions involving currently transmitting or recording visual and other ground data information that is not readily available or possible by other means. The capability of recently developed, simple and lightweight devices for recording and transmitting a wide variety of visual and other data is such that their usefulness can be greatly expanded by mounting them on a portable and remotely controlled VTOL UAV aircraft platform. Typical missions for such VTOL UAV units would be aerial intelligence gathering and reconnaissance, commercial cinematography, news coverage, aerial mapping, law enforcement and anti-terrorism augmentation, border patrol, disaster assessment, environmental assessment, utility inspection and maintenance, etc.